--- title: A Little-Known Problem in Children With Autism: Wandering Away description: Within a matter of seconds, your child slips from your watchful eye and wanders away. Soon, he or she is nowhere to be found. 7141937 canonical: https://time.com/archive/7141937/a-little-known-problem-in-children-with-autism-wandering-away/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-04-13T19:40:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T11:06:50.448Z article:section: Health og:title: A Little-Known Problem in Children With Autism: Wandering Away og:description: Within a matter of seconds, your child slips from your watchful eye and wanders away. Soon, he or she is nowhere to be found. 7141937 og:url: https://time.com/archive/7141937/a-little-known-problem-in-children-with-autism-wandering-away/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dca1b026b7e01d0/698a94a109208f523e423783/307_autismwandering.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 307 og:image:height: 173 og:image:alt: 307_autismwandering og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Little-Known Problem in Children With Autism: Wandering Away twitter:description: Within a matter of seconds, your child slips from your watchful eye and wanders away. Soon, he or she is nowhere to be found. 7141937 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dca1b026b7e01d0/698a94a109208f523e423783/307_autismwandering.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # A Little-Known Problem in Children With Autism: Wandering Away > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. 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It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=e4478023-4bbe-4b49-aaca-fc6ed5966cca&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Apr 13, 2011 7:40 PM UTC  Lisa Stirling via Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Apr 13, 2011 7:40 PM UTC Within a matter of seconds, your child slips from your watchful eye and wanders away. Soon, he or she is nowhere to be found.more For any parent, few things strike more fear than a missing child. But for parents of children with autism, the potential for wandering may be more dire: children with autism have a tendency to flee, and can sometimes put themselves in harm’s way. Although it is a little-known problem, wandering is perhaps the leading cause of death among children with autism, [reports](http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/11/autism.wandering.diagnosis/index.html) CNN. (**More on TIME.com:** [Closely Spaced Pregnancies May Contribute to Autism](http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/10/closely-spaced-pregnancies-may-contribute-to-autism/)) In a recent feature article, CNN’s Elizabeth Landau [told the story](http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/11/autism.wandering.diagnosis/index.html) of Michael Browne, a 10-year-old boy with severe autism, who is frequently inclined to bolt. “We constantly have our eye on the door and on Michael, and it’s a hard way to live,” Michael’s mother, Melanie Browne, of Katy, Texas, told Landau. “I think that’s the hardest part of raising him, is just the wandering issue.” There may be a variety of reasons that autistic children tend to run away from home or from adult supervision, experts say. Landau [reported](http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/11/autism.wandering.diagnosis/index.html): --- > “” --- It’s a problem that autism groups say deserves more attention and study. The [Interactive Autism Network](http://www.ianproject.org/) is now recruiting families to participate in a major survey about the behavior in order to understand whom it affects and how commonly. The findings may inform the debate over a proposal to make wandering an official diagnosis, which would give the behavior a “diagnostic code” for clinical and insurance purposes. (**More on TIME.com:** [Study Linking Vaccines to Autism Is “Fraudulent”](http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/06/study-linking-vaccines-to-autism-is-fraudulent/)) No matter which side of the issue they fall on, doctors and parents agree that preventive measures must be taken now to help keep kids from wandering off alone. Alarm systems, deadbolt locks and GPS tracking devices are just a few of the tools parents may use. Landau’s [interview](http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/11/autism.wandering.diagnosis/index.html) with the Brownes conveys the difficulty in dealing with wandering: --- > “” --- (**More on TIME.com:** [Study: Living Near a Highway May Contribute to Autism Risk](http://healthland.time.com/2010/12/17/study-living-near-a-highway-may-contribute-to-autism-risk/)) Like so many parents of children with autism — as well as clinicians and researchers — Browne said she hopes for better treatments, including new medications, for kids like Michael. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7141937/a-little-known-problem-in-children-with-autism-wandering-away/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7141937/a-little-known-problem-in-children-with-autism-wandering-away/"},"headline":"A Little-Known Problem in Children With Autism: Wandering Away","datePublished":"2011-04-13T19:40:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T11:06:50.448Z","description":"Within a matter of seconds, your child slips from your watchful eye and wanders away. 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